This is the question that matters most with live tracking, so here's a clear, honest answer.
The short version
- Aster records and shares your location only while you're actively tracking an activity, not the rest of the time.
- In an event, your live position is visible to whoever can view that event, which depends on its privacy level.
- On a Just Ride, you're private by default: nobody can follow along unless you choose to let your followers watch, or share a link.
- When you stop or finish, the live sharing ends and your live location freezes.
While you're tracking an event
When you ride or run an event, being on the map is the point: spectators follow the action. Who can see you depends on the event's privacy level.
| Event privacy | Who can see your live location | Shown in Discover? |
|---|---|---|
| Public | Anyone, no account needed | Yes |
| Unlisted | Anyone with the event link, no account needed | No |
| Private | Signed-in people with the organiser's access code | No |
| Members | Signed-in members of the host club | No |
So before you register, know the event's privacy level if that matters to you. See Public, unlisted, private and members events.
Hide my location in an event
Some organisers let athletes hide their live location from the public map for a particular event. When that's switched on for the event, you'll find a Hide my location toggle on your tracking screen.
Turning it on keeps you off the public live map, the leaderboard, and the event's published results: spectators see a "Hidden rider" placeholder with no name, marker or trail on the live map, and you're left out of the leaderboard and the results list entirely, not shown with your name redacted, so nothing there reveals that you rode, your name, your gender or your age category. It does not hide you from the organiser: you stay visible on their dashboard, keep your place internally, and keep tracking and uploading exactly as normal. It's a visibility choice, not a safety switch. An Alert you raise still reaches your organiser and safety contacts. If the organiser hasn't enabled it for the event, the toggle isn't there.
While you're on a Just Ride
Before you start, you choose who can see this activity, and the default is always Just me, private, never last-used:
| Choice | Who can see your live location |
|---|---|
| Just me (default) | Nobody. Saved to your activities for you alone. |
| Followers & club | Anyone who follows you can watch live, no link needed. |
| Anyone with link | Only people you send a watch link to. |
You can change this mid-ride too, and turning sharing off never pauses or stops your recording, it only stops who can watch. See Just Ride and Share links.
When you're not riding or running
The app doesn't track you when you're not on an activity. Your location is recorded only between the moment you start and the moment you stop or finish; points outside that window are never stored or shown to anyone. See Why your distance and time are accurate.
After you finish
The instant you finish (crossing the line, an organiser cutoff, or tapping Stop), every screen freezes at that moment. Your live location stops at the finish, your time and distance lock, and nothing keeps moving even if your phone is still uploading the last of the ride. See What "finished" means.
What stays visible afterwards depends on the activity:
- A public event result stays on the event page and your profile for anyone to see.
- A Just Ride stays visible only to whoever you shared it with: nobody if you rode as Just me, your followers if you chose Followers & club, or anyone who still has the link if you chose Anyone with link.
Raising an Alert
An Alert on Aster tells the people watching your ride: the organiser in an event, or your watchers on a Just Ride. It shares your location with them so they can help. It does not contact the emergency services, and it isn't a rescue service. If you need one, your own phone can call the emergency number directly. See Alert and crash detection.
You can add an optional phone number to your profile and choose to show it to whoever handles your Alert, so they can call you. It's off by default and never appears on your public profile.
How to keep a ride private
- Use a Just Ride (private by default) rather than a public event if you don't want an audience.
- Leave it set to Just me: with that choice, nobody, not even your followers, can find or watch a Just Ride.
- Check an event's privacy level before you register.
- If the organiser allows it, use Hide my location to stay off the public map during an event.